Saddam pictures, Iraqi flags top sellers in Gaza

Palestinians crammed Tareq Abu Daya’s shop on Saturday to buy Iraqi flags, glossy pictures of Saddam Hussein, T-shirts and American flags to set ablaze at a demonstration against the U.S.-led strike in Iraq.

“This is the only thing I can do to show my support to this man (Saddam) and his nation,” said Marwan Musallam, a 35-year-old taxi driver who bought two small Iraqi flags at Abu Daya’s shop. “Saddam is the only Arab leader to support the Palestinians.”

The Iraqi leader is popular in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, partly because of the more than $35 million he has doled out to Palestinian families who’ve had relatives killed in the uprising of the Israelis.

In the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam portrayed himself as the liberator of Palestinians from Israeli occupation, and many Palestinians cheered when Iraq’s 39 Scud missiles fell on Israel, causing heavy damage and injuries but few casualties.

Abu Daya said he is against the U.S.-led strike but is profiting nonetheless. As soon as the U.N. weapons inspectors left Iraq, Abu Daya boosted production, asking his mother, wife and daughters to sew more of the small Iraqi flags that sell for a little more than $1.

Recommended Stories For You

“I knew that this was bad news and the Palestinian people would stand with Iraq in a way you wouldn’t expect,” said Abu Daya, 27.

“From the minute people got wind of the bombardment against Baghdad, flag sales and sales of Saddam’s picture have not let up.”

His business, called Tareq’s Flag Shop, also sells Palestinian flags, inflatable Yasser Arafat dolls, T-shirts of Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara and flags from China, France, Germany and Russia – the four countries that opposed the U.S. strike against Iraq. Sales have been good in the seven years since he opened, but the war has rallied support for Saddam, boosting his sales, he said.

“Money doesn’t lie,” he said.

Throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, thousands of Palestinians took to the streets Saturday, calling on Muslims to boycott American products and for Arab nations to break diplomatic ties with the United States and Britain. Many chanted old slogans popular during the 1991 Gulf War, urging Saddam’s army to strike Tel Aviv.